An Unbubbled Gem
by Darksonic407
Summary: Too long they have been trapped in that bubble, now they just want to run from their captors. There's just one problem, the Steven wants them to help those Crystal Gems
1. Chapter 1

Another, another presence, they had long since stopped counting how many were bubbled and sent here. Long since given up on escaping, perhaps the day will come, but it will be a long time till then. 'Just keep your form, don't forget who you are,' The gem thought to itself for an unknown amount of times. Someone entered the room, they're just standing there. Which one was this, the spearmaiden, the shapeshifter or the lovers? It should not matter, none would release him.

It felt small, like the shapeshifter, but different. Hmm odd, perhaps the shapeshifter took a new form, that was probably it. 'Why am I so interested in the presence of the crystal gems?' Probably because I haven't interacted with anyone for so long. Wait, is the shapeshifter staring at them? Why… why the sudden interest? Have they finally decided to crush my gem? Pointing. She's pointing at me and… oh my word, the lovers came in and grabbed my bubble, maybe I'm close enough to hear what the lovers are saying. "Are you sure this is the one?"... "Alright, but if anything goes wrong, it goes back, alright?"

What's happening, I'm being transferred to a different room, what's happe- ! I'm… I'm out… I'm out of t-that bubble. 'OKOKOK, Reform, just like before, keep your form." A dark grey form grows around the egg shaped, black gem on top of the wooden floor. Alright, how did I remember it again? Slightly shorter that the spearmaiden, slightly more muscular that her too, wrapped in black, baggy, yet form fitting robes resembling that of a… what was it that the humans called them when they were captured, a, nin-jah?

The form now taken physical mass fell to its knees, exhausted, they dared not move. "Hey Garnet," spoke a young voice, "why's she dressed like a ninja?". So they got the terminology right, good, but she? They checked all around with one eye slightly open, no, they were still male. "And why aren't they moving?" That was a good question, why aren't they moving? Perhaps it was the fear of getting smashed as it might all be some sick joke. As if reading his mind, the voice spoke once again "Maybe they're scared of your gauntlets? Could you put them away for now?" The next thing thing to be heard was weapons unequipping. He moved slowly to not anger the lovers, raising his eyes to finally meet the childs.

He was small and slightly pudgy from what could be seen with an aura of excitement radiating from him, he could swear that the child could power a ship with that amount of energy. Next to him were the lovers, stone cold as ever. "Your eyes," the child said trying to hide their excitement, "They're so pretty." "Uh, thank you," the unknown gem said with a raspy voice, they never thought of their eyes as pretty, after all the left one was a midnight purple and the right a golden yellow wasn't a very popular choice back on- the gem felt his eyes droop as he thought of homeworld. How long has it been since the day he was captured? He noticed the boy had a look of concern over his face, does his kind now have the power of telepathy? "Hold on, I think I can help," help? Help with what?

The next thing he knew the small boy was now giving them a hot cup of, something, it had steam coming off of it. "Breath in the steam from the tea, it'll help a lot," he said looking at them. Well, if it was gonna "help" them, who could say no? As he smelled the mixture he noticed that it was a sweet combination of the grassy fields of home and a slight tartness easing its way in, the entire smell enveloped his body with a warm feeling, along with a previously unknown soreness in their throat. Was that what the child- hold on, this boy has been so kind to him, and he had yet to give him a name. "Onyx," the unknown gem said aloud. "Hmm?" The boy exclaimed, "My name, It's Onyx," the now finally known gem said somewhat clearer. "Oh, mine's Steven, Steven Universe" said Steven. Onyx had a good feeling about this boy, he never attack once while instead helping him. All the while he knew the lovers watched in silence, planning every move he would make, leading back up to going back into the bubble.

 **Authors note: I've finally worked up enough confidence to put up a story that I have tried to make (and majorly fail at). Please review and tell me what's wrong with it to get better at this, and remember, this is my first time doing this sort of thing so please go easy on me. I'll start on a new chapter (or revise this one) once I get at least one review telling me some criticism. Also, I don't own Steven Universe, just my Onyx OC. Til next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I do not own Steven Universe.**

"So, I don't mean to be rude, but why am I here?" Onyx worried, "Hmm? Oh! Um, you see, Garnet let me choose a gem from the bubble room." explained Steven "Choose?" Onyx shaked. 'Why would they let them chose me?'

"Yeah, I didn't get to learn about homeworld from Lapis and Peridot is too busy on the drill to tell me, so I got the next best person to tell me," said a starry eyed Steven "Someone that lived there," Finished Onyx "And those two aren't objecting to this?" pointing to Garnet. Meanwhile she just sneered at the defenceless gem,

"Of course, why wouldn't she?" "Well, I might tell you things that they don't want you to know," he sighed. "Such _as_?" he scooted forward "Well...", "Steven if you're not gonna ask about homeworld I'm just going to put it back" interrupted Garnet.

"That was extremely rude you two, however I want to stay out of that thing, so I guess I'll have to stick to pre-war facts" he crossed his arms "So, Steven, anything specific that you want learn?" 'Perhaps if I keep this up I can get out of here'

"Hmm..." he pondered "How about, umm, training?" "Training? what kind?" "How to use you weapon in different ways..." answered Steven. "Oh," 'This might be my chance, and so soon too,' "Well, I could tell you, but that wouldn't help any" he explained "So, if those two would let me, I could _show_ you instead" feigning innocence.

He could tell that Garnet tightened her fists even harder than they already were, 'Come on kid, you're my one shot I've got of making her say ye-' gone. Put back in that dang bubble, and back in that stupid room. His short-lived regained strength lingered allowing him to hear them.

"Why did you do that!?"said an extremely surprised Steven "He was gonna help me get even better with my shield!" "Trust me Steven, you don't want help training from homeworld, especially from that thing." replied Garnet in the usual monotonous voice "Why do you keep calling him _it_ or _thing_?", "That's enough questions for today, it's 8:40 and you need to get ready for bed, meanwhile me Pearl and Amethyst are going on a mission" Onyx couldn't hear anything past that.

'Back in this stupid bubble for the rest of eternity, if I hadn't messed up back there I still would have a chance!' if he had a voice he would be screaming right now. Time passed and the room was reopened, 'I bet it's those lovers ready to just break my gem finally,' not bothering to even think of looking at them, 'At least I won't have to suffer an eternity anymore'.

He could sense that he was taken outside 'Probably to keep the kid from seeing this, heh, Steven was the first person in centuries that showed me kindness and gave interest in my life. Not even homeworld did that, and I was a high rank officer… sorry kid, I never did get to teach you how to fight better'

Now something felt, off to Onyx, he couldn't feel the original building from anywhere. In fact he could feel the bubble disintegrating, 'What? That fool!', as soon as the bubble was completely gone he could feel himself coming back together only to see… Steven. "Wha-what? Steven? But I thought- you were-", "I know I know, I'm not supposed to let you out, but I just wanted to apologize for Garnet. She's not usually like this," He apologized "So? I don't care! I'm just finally out of that bubble, what do you want? Just name it, it's yours, it'll be as thanks for letting me out." said an exuberant Onyx. "Well… could you still teach me about my weapon?", "Of course, how could I forget!", he went on, "Of course I'll teach you."

Now it was Steven turn to get starry eyed, "Yes, I'll finally learn more!", but then his excitement faded some, "Though, I'm probably gonna get punished for letting you out" he sighed "Dang, I thought I had it this time". Onyx just couldn't stand to see his newfound friend be upset, so he got down on his knees at eye level with Steven. "Listen, if it would help, I can stay in the bubble, as much as I would hate it, during hours that the gems are away, and when they're gone, you let me out and we can train, k?" Steven answered with a nice big smile "Alright, we start tomorrow, just to make sure they don't catch us," and with that he went back into his gem, for the first time he was glad to be in there. The next thing he knew, he was back in the room, so he waited for the next time so he could teach Steven the art of combat.

 **Authors note: Thanks for waiting on this one, I actually got some nice reviews asking for more so here you go. I decided to try a different layout with my typing, so hopefully it looks good. Like last time please review and tell me what I could improve on, if you have any requests or concerns, or if you just all around liked this and want to see more. The few reviews that told me that this was good got me motivated to write more so thank you for that. Til' next time.**


	3. Chapter 3

The next time the door is opened Onyx became extremely excited, 'Yes! Time for training!' he can't remember much about his past due to the time in the bubble, however he remembers loving to train, the feeling of strength flowing through them, the difficulty of making the recruits stronger, and the way his higher ups looked at him with satisfaction. It all felt exhilarating… though, he feels as if he's forgetting something.

As he reforms he sees the area from the other night, perhaps to be used as a training ground. In front of him he sees a joyous Steven ready to learn, here's the fun part, getting started. "Alright Steven," he crosses his arms "how much time do we have?" "We have all day, the others decided to go for something big in South America today so they'll be gone for a long while."

"Good, now let's see where our starting point is, can you show me something you're familiar with?" using as calming as a voice as possible "I think it would be best to start with improving with familiarity."

"Umm, the first thing I learned to do was my bubble" he puts a bubble around himself to show "Though I don't see how I can improve summoning a bubble..." he says as putting it away

"It's not summoning that we'll improve, it's how you use it," he's starting to get giddy with the ideas of the capability of Stevens bubble. "First bring it back out, but this time don't put it around anything, just up in the air," After he says this he sees a light pink bubble form in front of him a head smaller than him "Good, now can you move it around without touching it?"

Steven seems to struggle with doing this a couple of seconds before looking at Onyx with a face that read, 'Is it even possible?'. He merely took a few steps closer before saying, "Here, let me show you how I do it," and he reach into his suit with both hands before showing his weapons, claws, each claw seemingly replacing his fingers with the top and point finely sharpened, the oddest thing however was that, even though they were black, they glistened a golden yellow not unlike his eye.

"Watch this," though truth be told, he wasn't putting his full attention on the claws as copies of each individual finger come from each and floated around aimlessly. No, his attention was on the face of the young as it blazed with full excitement and wonder. "That. is so. COOL!" he giddily pointed out as if it's a fact. "And you can do it too if you listen and listen hard," his eyes were then shown in a serious nature, "Now, focus on your bubble, focus on the energy that makes it up while feeling the same energy in your fingers."

While Steven concentrated on that he decided that taking a few glances around the new "training area". It was relatively secluded with hints of jungle farther away from the large mass of water, "ocean" he briefly recalls. There was also a clear river running from the jungle with scaly creatures swimming about, the only other thing of note as a large slab of rock, flat and smooth on the top while rough around the edges.

He was called back from his thoughts as a bubble came right for him, thankfully he ducked out of the way just in time to see Steven slightly blushing with embarrassment. "Sorry about that, but I think I have it down now" showing as he could swing it around like a toy. "Sorry nothing, you got that down quicker than the other students in homeworld, meaning that you're doing something right," showing a gleam of pride through his eyes. "Though, perhaps it's best to stop for today, as much as I would love to teach you more, we still need to spoonfeed this training to the gems."

"Alright," he shortly replied, "But I get to teach you something too, if you're gonna stay on earth you need to learn some things first," he said with a mischievous grin. "Hmm," 'Teach me about the ways on earth? What for… perhaps it would be useful to me.' "Alright, teach me the ways of earth, young master," he said with a mock bow, struggling to stifle a snicker. Meanwhile Steven can help but giggle and play along, "But of course, now, follow me to the Big Donut to get some pleasantries," said in a "regal" tone. "As you wish, young master."

As they went on to the Big Donut Onyx saw that they passed by the Crystal gems temple, perhaps that would be useful to know as well. As they reached the building he took note of the… giant ring 'One could guess that's a "donut",' on top of the building… it was slightly intimidating to say the they pushed through the double doors he saw two new humans behind the counter, one was a short female with blond hair and pale skin while the other was a tall male with red hair and slightly tanned skin, something about that guy annoyed him.

"Hi Sadie, hey Lars," he said in his usual gleeful tone, "Just here to pick up a couple of donuts for me and Onyx." "Steven, why do you keep bringing your stupid friends around?" Meanwhile Onyx gained an instant scowl, "Hey Steven, how about you go get those donuts with Sadie" tried to keep his voice cool and collected, "I kinda want to have a chat with Lars." Even though Steven didn't understand why he wanted to talk to Lars after just meeting him, but decides that it might be nice for him to talk to people.

"Ok, hey Sadie, could you show me the ones that were just made?" "Sure Steven, just this way" she responded before they disappear through the door. As soon as they're out of earshot the very ticked off gem looks the the teen in the eye "Tell me, why do you believe that you have the ability to know a persons IQ when just glancing at their face," keeping a hushed yet sharp tone, "Or was that an extremely poor excuse at an insult?"

He could see the sweat forming on the workers forehead and after some thinking he answered, "L-look, it's just that Stevens friends are freaks, I j-just assumed the same with you," and the gems look didn't soften on second, "Next time kid, _don't_ just assume, clear?" he gulped "Crystal," afterwards his expression softened back down, "Thank you," he replied just as Steven and Sadie came back, "I got some really good ones for us," he said as he payed. Then the two left with Onyx silently giggling to himself 'It's been awhile since I've had to intimidate someone, for a second I thought I might have gotten rusty at it, good to know that I still got it.'

The two continued down the boardwalk reaching the end before sitting down to "dig into the donuts". "Ok now copy my movements," the young boy said while lifting up a chocolate donut, "Umm, O… K," replied a clearly confused Onyx lifting up a maple bar. Steven opened his mouth and Onyx reflected even though he hesitated to bite down, he didn't want to disappoint his friend. As he chewed he realised what all of this was about, the taste was indescribable, 'Why didn't we have this at home?!' he thought while showing a giant smile from under the mask.

"It's great isn't it?" the question piercing his thoughts "No," he replied shortly earning a frown from his friend "It's fantastic," he said with a smug grin, "Oh come on!" said the shorter one with a playful shove. They giggled while eating the rest of the donuts, "Even though this was fun, it might be time for me to go back, can you teleport my bubble like the others?" "Yeah, one sec," he responded while getting up, "Oh and thanks for teaching me about the bubble moving," "Thank _you_ for teaching me about the donuts," he said as he went back into his gem feeling the bubble form and being teleported back to the room.

'He, that was fun… though, I should've looked for an escape in case they find out,' he was silently hoping that nothing wrong would happen to his little bud. 'Bah, I shouldn't be thinking of this, I should be thinking of battle strategies for his new battle technique, and probably find out what the Crystal Gems thought of the bubble thing next time,' he thought as he started to feel tired from the days events till he fell asleep thinking of the next days events, not noticing the small whisper from the wailing stone in the same room as him.


	4. Chapter 4

**I do no own Steven Universe**

"Hmm, hello Steven," Onyx said as he stretched in his reformed state, "You ready for a new day?" "Of course!" jumping up to hug the taller gem "I got a surprise for you too!" A surprise? "Alright, let's see it," he said as he stood back. "OK, watch this!" the boy yelled as he jumped high into the air, then slowing his descent. "Ah, you can increase and decrease your descent speed, this will be useful," he spoke with a smirk that he'd become more and more accustomed to.

"I have an idea for this, here, this time, after jumping up, summon your bubble around you, then increase your falling speed while aiming for this" afterwards making a projection phase out of his body of his own likeness, and an unexpected swim for Steven after seeing another "training dummy". "Sorry, I'll explain that later," after saying this he jumped up into the air same as before trying to aim for the dummy before going for another swim. "Trying to become a fish?" Onyx snarkily called out to a giggling Steven, "No, not yet,"

"Hey Steven?" he said as the boy walked back up, "Yeah?" "How about we do something different?" "Different? Different how?" cocking his head to the side, "Showing you one of my favorite abilities, yet one of the hardest to do, using a fusion weapon without being fused," "That's possible?!" he exclaimed with a twinkle in his eye. "Yup, though it's gonna be a bit risky to do," "Risky?" "Yes, risky, due to the way I have to do it," "Well what do you have to do?"

"I have to get close enough to a gem, and hold onto them for a little while," "Well, do it with me!" "I can't," he said his eyes drooping down "Why not?" Steven asked confused. "Because it slowly drains the energy of the owner of the weapon I use," he let out a breath, "I would gladly do it to one of the crystal gems, but I can't risk hurting you, you're my first friend here on earth and I can't risk losing you," he looked up to see Steven in deep thought, he knew that look all too well, that was the look of someone who had a crazy yet brilliant plan.

"What's on your mind kid?" he said sitting down in front of them, "I have a few questions," "Umm, ok, ask away," he said slowly. "First, can you shapeshift?" "Yes?" "How long do you need to hold onto them?" "Just for a few seconds then I'm good," "Finally, how fast is the drain?" "Depending on the strength of the gem, up to a week, why all the sudden questions?" "Because I got a plan," he said pulling Onyxs head toward him.

"This is crazy!" "I know, then it should work," Onyx was starting to have second thoughts about this. Having to transform into a grey animal, decidedly a wolf, and following Steven to the base directly towards the crystal gems sounded good at the time, but now… "Steven, what if they attack me?" he asked worriedly, "Then I protect you with my bubble," 'This kid's gonna be the death of me,' he thought. "Alright, here we go," he heard the boy say right next to him.

"All I'm saying is that maybe we could lure out the Slinker with something," the shapeshifter, the least annoying of the group, "But we don't know what the "Slinker" would even come out for, much less what it would do if it was cornered," sounded like the spearmaiden was off squawking again and with those two arguing, "Right now it's just holed up in Amethysts room and probably not going anywhere anytime soon," the lovers weren't too far behind to end their squabbling. "Hi, guys!" heard the boy call out and resisting the urge to wince when the gems looked over, "I have a new friend," "Cool Steven! Does it have a name, or can I just call it wolfy?" the shapeshifter asked as she jumped over, Onyx gave a growl at the name she tried to give him, "I call him Shade, though he doesn't like the name wolfy very much so probably best to stay away from that one," he said as he pet his head that came up to his neck.

"Steven! Get away from that thing, it may have some disease," the spearmaiden squawked, "Don't worry, just don't get him angry and he won't bite, I promise," after the boy said this Onyx decided to take a bit of initiative by walking up to Pearl. 'Don't bite her, this is just like the stealth missions, don't bite her, this is just like the stealth missions,' he repeated over and over in his head. As he got right in front of the spearmaiden he knew he needed to do something to earn her trust and quick, so Onyx did the only thing he could think of, he bowed down to the tall gem to show courtesy even though most animals didn't do this. Although it seemed to work quite nicely, she looked down at him and hesitantly decided to pet the "dogs" head allowing him to create the link.

Now he needed to leave, and fast, but before he could try anything he saw something out of the corner of his eye, growled and rounded on the odd creature. As he saw it move into sight near Steven he lunged at it biting down on the mass, but before anyone could clearly see what it was it slipped out of the "wolfs" jaw back into the temple. "Was that the SLINKER!?" yelled the spearmaiden, "See? I told you that Shade would only bite if he got angry," said Steven quickly petting his head, 'I need to get out NOW, what would a wolf do...' he quickly howled and ran from the building and the last thing he could hear while fleeing was Garnet saying "Must be going home."

After getting back to the training area he waited for Steven after returning to his normal form, and he waited, and waited, and waited. When twilight rolled around he was convinced that Steven wasn't going to come back he sat down and looked up at the stars, 'It's odd, these stars are supposed to be the same as homeworlds but… these somehow look, nicer.' after he thought that he let out a small chuckle, 'That kid's actually getting to me, but I can't forget why I'm doing this,' he looked out into the water in front of him, 'I need to go home, maybe I can get the diamonds to let this planet go, it might be hard though from what Steven told me.' His eyes drooped at the thought, 'Has homeworld changed that much the time I've been gone with giant sentinels, yellow diamond getting that angry… homeworld not looking the same anymore.' He shuddered, 'I don't envy that lapis at all having to see what it must have become.'

There was a noise from his left and he immediately got into a battle position with his claws, "Onyx?" he heard the all too familiar young voice call out while he eased up, "You ok?" "Yeah, I'm fine, why?" "There are tears in your eyes," he reached up to confirm that there were indeed tears, "Well, that doesn't matter right now, you must have come up here to see the fusion trick," "Well, yeah, but I don't want to bother you if you're too upset to do it," he said as he twisted his shirt.

"Heh, I'm fine, now," he pulled out his claws on his left hand, "The first thing I need to do is pull out both weapons," then pulled out a spear that was a perfect photocopy pearls, "Then I got to combine them, like THIS," after saying this he clasped his clawed hand over the handle causing them to deform, combine, then reshape. When it was finalized Steven looked at the new weapon in wonder, it was a large scythe a head taller than Onyx, the handle like that of the spear and the blade like his claws down to the yellow sheen, only, the blade was as long as his arm. "Like it?" "Nope," said the boy causing the gems brows to furrow, "I love it!" he now exclaimed to the now exasperated gem, "It makes me wonder what you and pearl would look like fused, in fact… " he went off elongating the last word, "I wonder what it would look like if you were a crystal gem!" hearing this caused Onyx to jump throwing the weapon behind him,

"W-what? Me!? I can't become a crystal gem!" "Why not?" the boy said obviously puzzled, "Because, I'm still a commander, and if homeworld found out, I'd be crushed, you'd be killed and this whole planet could be destroyed," he let out an exasperated sigh, "Even if I liked those idiots and homeworld wouldn't attack this place I couldn't join, they'd just attack me on the spot," "Then I'll protect you," said the very determined boy, "With what, your bubble shield? No offence but I've seen how strong they get, your bubble wouldn't work," "Then I'll use my normal shield," "Your normal shield? What do you mean by tha-" he stopped as he saw that Steven had pulled out his weapon and saw the symbol, "Th-that's not possible, but, but how, I thought that Rose was gone!" "She fell in love with my dad and- are you ok?"

Steven looked at his friend convulsing on the ground while muttering unknown nonsense, "Hey Onyx, what's wrong, can I help?" the boy said while inching closer. "Get away," heard him whisper, "What? I can't hear you," "I said, get aẂ̧̢̞͖̰͕͉̬̥̺̪͖̜̟͉̣̝͢͡ͅĄ̡̩̜͈͍̤͚̀ͅY̷̷̙͍͔̱̪̦ͅ!̻̜̜̱͙̣̲̗̬͔͍̕͢ͅͅͅ" he said with another voice overlapping his. "I̛͢͞ ͏̡a͜͝m̀͟ m̶̵̢ȩ͞!͠ ̕͟G҉͝e͏̢̡t̢͝ ̢͘o͟ù͝t͡ ́͞o͝͝f҉ ḿ͏e!̨ ̸͢W̕e s̨h̶͜o̕u̕͞l͘͞͠d͏̴̧ń̢͜'t́ ̷̷͞e͘̕x̷̡̢i̕s͘t!̕͡" he said loudly. "Go̕͟ ̨̧͞á̕w̸a̛y!̡̧ W̵e̴ ͘dơ͢͡n̴'t͡҉ ẃ̨̛a̢̨͢n̷̨t͏͢ ͠҉to̡͢ ̀h̢̨͠u̸r̀͟t̡ ý̵ǫ͟u͡͞!̀" he said towards Steven, "What are you talking about? Onyx, ONYX!" the boy yelled as he chased his now runaway friend. Just before he reached the jungle he saw his friends gem float up without its body, split into two halves with bodies forming around each. One elongated into a snake-like form with multiple heads and yellow eyes with black scales the other took on the form of a large dog with three heads, purple eyes, and a black coat. After the two looked at Steven then each other, they ran into the jungle in opposite directions leaving the scared and confused boy behind. "I need to tell the gems," was the last thing Steven said before running off to the temple.

 **Authors note: Hey people, yes this is still going just had a bad bump, but now that I'm out of school I should have more time to write stories. Anyway, like usual leave a review telling me the good/bad in this chapter and I'll improve and if you want a certain story or something to happen I might make a oneshot of it. Til next time!**

 **Edit: Thank you to DragShot for pointing out that the ending was slightly confusing so I could change up the wording.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own Steven Universe**

The young boy knew he had to help his friend, but what if right after he got back to normal, Onyx was poofed? No, no he could protect his friend with his shield, just like he promised. "GARNET!" Steven yelled, "Yes Steven?" the gem said while sitting right next to her two companions, "I'mreallyreallysorrybutItookdownOnyxandhestartedtoteachmehowtofi-" "Whoa whoa, easy Steven," Pearl said, stopping him, "Slow down so we can understand you, now what happened?"

Steven took in a deep breath and explained the whole situation, everything from the first encounter, to the donuts, and up to the argument the two had with Pearl looking like she would faint multiple times throughout. "That's why Onyx's out there somewhere and somehow turned into two creatures, will you help me find him?" he said with a large sigh.

Both Pearl and Amethyst looked at each other with worried expressions and looked off to Garnet who just stood and drank this all in. Finally after what felt like eternity she spoke back up, "Fine, we'll go get it, we'll discuss this whole thing when we get back," as she walked towards the door a feeling of the calm before the storm followed along with her companions set on entering the forest.

'We shouldn't exist, why were we created, how, when… what made us?'

"Come on!" Steven yelled as he entered the forest entrance somehow leaving the Crystal Gems in the dust then waiting for them to catch up at a clearing. When the three finally arrived they found the half-gem running around most likely worried about the recently split gem. Garnet spoke up interrupting his thought process, "Steven you need to calm down, now where did it go?" He stopped running and surveyed the trees thinking, "I-I think one when towards the beach and the other went deeper into the forest." "Alright, Pearl Amethyst and Steven, you go to the beach and get the half there, I'll search for the other half." All the Gems gave a nod in recognition and started running to their search areas.

Once reaching the sand Amethyst spoke up, "So which one are we looking for?" Steven replied, "I think it was the snakey one..." before hearing hissing from the water where reptile like heads started to rise to the surface, "DEfinitely the snakey one, definitely the snakey one!" Then started running to a safer distance from the water.

'The kid, Steven, why is he here, he shouldn't be here, she shouldn't be here, whyisshehere, GET AWAY FROM THEM!'

Pearl pulled a spear from her Forehead getting into a battle stance while Amethyst had already charged forward with her spin dash hitting one of the heads. Unfortunately afterwards she was knocked into the water by the serpent's tail only to have it hit by Pearl's spear causing it to shriek. It charged forwards to ram into the pale gem only to have her jump gracefully out of the way shooting some light shots from her newly formed spear. As she landed a heavy tail swiped at her pushing her in the direction of one of its gaping maws. Before she could be munched a whip wrapped around the mouth shutting it, when Steven and Pearl looked up they saw their purple gem riding the main head like a cowgirl with its constant bucking.

Before a Spear could be thrown to poof the unstable gem it swung its head around effectively throwing Amethyst into the taller of the two gems before hastily slithering away into the wooded three chased the creature into the previous clearing where Garnet was already fighting the multi-headed, giant wolf and becoming increasingly frustrated because of it. "It's about time you all showed up!" she yelled as she knocked away a wolf head coming in for a bite.

While Amethyst dodged the Snake's tail she yelled, "Garnet! What's the plan for poofing these things?" "Just treat them like normal corrupted gems!" she yelled as she rammed into the hound. Amethyst rounded on the snake keeping all of it's heads distracted while pearl went around to attack from the back. She jumped up piercing where their spine would be causing another screech and retaliation by being flicked right back onto the ground. As the tail was about to slam down onto her body Steven ran out in front of her holding his shield high intent on protecting her. He braced himself for impact and closed his eyes, but opened them when no slam came the serpent now going after Amethyst.

'We can't hurt ally, won't hurt ally… not ally fr-frie… we will not hurt _friend_.'

As Pearl reentered the fray Steven paused to wonder why the scaly creature had not attacked. Was it out of not wanting to bother or, was Onyx still there? He was snapped out of his thoughts as a tree pulled from it's roots was thrown at him originally with the intent of hitting one of the beasts. Before the poor boy could react one of the wolf heads caught the large piece of wood and chucked right back at Garnet. The furry beast towered over the child with the two side heads viciously snarling at the full gems while the main head simply licked the half-gem to make sure he was ok.

The pale gem was now keeping the snarling monster on it's toes trying to get "her baby" back while the purple and, currently, enraged gems battled the hissing one. Garnet was currently wrapped up in the one of the secondary heads while fending off the other with her punching while Amethyst was trying, and gaining headway, to wrap up it's mouth. She grabbed hold of the head and swung as hard as she could throwing the head into the one that was holding Garnet thus releasing her. Both gems grabbed hold of the behemoths tail and swung it al la Steven's Jumpman 128 game right into the wolf.

Both creatures slammed into the surrounding trees with logs falling on top and around them. "Alright, it's time to finish the job," Pearl says reading her spear while Garnet gets ready to smash down with her gauntlets and Amethyst pulls back her whip. As they move for the final Steven runs in front of the two corrupted halfs promptly stopping their attack. "Steven, move out of the way!" yells the leader of the three, "No! Please, just let me talk to him! To get him back to normal." "Steven," Pearl interjects, "This isn't up for discussion, so move!"

'Friend protect us? Need to help, how?'

'Become Onyx, become me… become Stevens friend.'

Garnet slowly spoke up, "Steven I know that you care for it, but it's become a corrupted monster. Now listen to us and-" "No!" The child yelled cutting her off, "I won't let you! If you just let me take him to the spring and put him back together then we could all talk, but I won't let you p-" Steven stopped when he saw a light shining from behind him. Turning around he saw the two behemoths lose form and merge together showing the split gem on the outside. "Plea… elp… Ste..en, heal… m-me," a voice similar Onyx's raspy voice come from the formless blob of light. "I can't, we need to get to Moms spring to heal you." he replied with a shaky voice. "Won… ast that… lon..."

A steady flow of tears erupted from the young boys eyes upon hearing that meanwhile Amethyst quickly turned to Pearl, "P! Didn't you grab a jug of the tears a while ago? Like, after I got healed?" Pearl quickly stammered a reply, "I did, but… should we use it on Onyx?" Both teammates looked towards Garnet for guidance and were met with a period of silence before she spoke, "Fine, go heal it," she gritted out. Pearl and Amethyst both quickly ran up while their leader stayed behind watching, the taller gem quickly pulled out a small quart jug filled with a clear liquid bringing it to Steven. "The tears… " Steven breathed out as Pearl quickly handed it to him. The youth hastily twisted off the top and splashed the tears onto the two halves, the world seemed to come to a standstill as the three closest watched the liquid work, mending it all together creating a full, smooth gem once again.

'I'm back, need to reform… keep Steven safe… and tell the truth' Onyx thought as he thought of his form once again.

 **Author's note: So hey! Yeah I kinda dropped the ball on this huh? Over half a year of not updating this… I'm gonna try to make updates happen, but I can't promise anything. Thanks for reading and til next time!**


	6. Chapter 6

**I do not own Steven Universe**

Newly formed eyes cracked open to moonlight flowing down from the forest clearing and Steven watching carefully through tear-stained eyes. A moment passes before the heavy silence is cut by the gems raspy voice, "Steven? Did it work?" The boy responded by rushing forward wrapping himself around the reformed gem extremely tight as if he let go Onyx may disappear for good. 'I didn't think this kid liked me _that_ much' the newly reformed gem thought as he returned the hug.

Looking up he could see both Pearl and Amethyst close by with Garnet a surprisingly long distance away. 'What's the Spearmaiden and Shapeshifter doing this close when the lovers are that far away?' "Hey Onyx?" the clinging boy spoke up, he gave a hum in recognition, "Please don't ever do that again." Onyx gave a small chuckle and said, "I'll try my best kid."

He let out a sigh, "Though we need to talk, you three need to hear this too, yes even you Lovers." The fusion gave a sneer in response but came forward next to the others and sat down clearly seeing a lengthy talk in the future. "Thank you," he shortly said, "What's wrong Onyx?" the boy in his lap asked. "Just something I learned about while being… that." he responded while handing the hybrid over to Pearl. He then reached up to his mask hooking his fingers underneath, "To understand what I'm gonna say… you should know what I look like," then ripping off the wraps.

Underneath was a very humanoid like head… for the most part. His skin was dark grey with sharp razor like teeth being a stark contrast, shaggy black hair all in a mess and all around his neck shards of black gems were embedded into the light-based skin. A collective gasp rang through the quiet forest with the grey skinned gem gaining a slight frown. "What happened?" Amethyst spoke up before anyone else had a chance to, "... I was created," Pearl glanced around hoping for an explanation not unnoticed by Onyx.

He let out a breath before continuing on, "You remember those clusters you all keep fighting?" Pearl nodded, "Well... I was technically the first working experiment done making them," he grimly said, looking down at the ground tears forming. As the droplets fell to the ground "One look at me and they knew that I was defective, there are no natural male gems, there shouldn't be shards in my neck, I shouldn't have razor teeth," his voice becoming harder and louder as he goes on, "An onyx shouldn't have different colored eyes, an onyx shouLDN'T HAVE FEELINGS!" his already raspy voice became more and more gravley.

"Who?" that single word snapped Onyx out of his stupor making him look right at Pearl, "Wha?" was all he could muster. "Who makes you up?" she asked in a sympathy lined voice. He let out a single shaky breath, "A Zircon that got caught in the attack on one of the Diamond leaders," "Zircon?" Steven spoke up, the black gem gave a hum in confirmation, "She was a great tactician from being almost as old as the Diamonds themselves, the leaders always have a few to help them analyze new ideas, the one in particular was Blue's right hand."

"And the other one?" Amethyst questioned, "She was Tanzanite," upon hearing this Pearl covered her mouth as her eyes went wide, "You aren't talking about _that_ Tanzanite are you?" He nodded his head, "Excuse me? What are you two talking about?" the purple gem huffed, "O-oh, sorry about that, you see Tanzanite was an assassin that was sent to kill… well, Rose." The small gem sat there with wide eyes her mouth opening and closing not unlike a fish. The youngest was first to speak up, "What happened to Tanzanite?" No one dared open their mouth out of fear until Garnet broke her stoic facade, swiveled Steven around and took off her shades to show her grief filled eyes, "Steven, we did things that we regret, we regret them everyday and this was something that we as Crystal Gems hate that we did... because we showed we were no better than Homeworld." She took a calming breath through her non-existent lungs, "We made an example of Tanzanite by shattering her and then sent the shards to the commanding general," Pearl had covered her face with her hands and Onyx had his lips pressed into a hard line but said nothing.

Stevens eyes had glazed over as he processed this information, Amethyst being the first to talk, "Did Rose know about this?" the deafening silence was the only answer yet rang clear and true, ' _No_ '. He shook his head trying to get the thought out of his mind failing to do so, "I-I thought you were the good guys..." "Steven," Onyx's voice sprang up, "There are no good guys in a war," he lets out a heavy breath, "There are, however, ways for peace if not working together then at least an agreement."

Hope spread across Stevens face like a wildfire though some tears were left unwiped, "Really?" "Only if these three will talk with me," Onyx said breathlessly looking at the remaining Crystal Gems. Amethyst was clearly upset with all the new information and having to make a hard decision, Pearl was able to compose herself a tad bit better but still looked disheveled and clearly tired from the previous battle and Garnet… was as stoic as ever, most likely looking at all the possibilities.

"Are you going to hurt any humans if we let you roam?" Pearl asked trying to steady her breath, "Spearmaiden, I stayed away from humans while you all chased me around the world, as long as none of them attack me or Steven, I won't have a reason to." She bit her cheek at the name but otherwise said, "So long as you keep that promise I'll allow it." Steven looked over at Amethyst and Garnet with the former speaking up first, "Hey man, if you want to stick around I'm cool, I don't really know you but if Ste-man thinks you're good go ahead." she ran her fingers through her hair, "Just remind me to show you to Vidalia, she might help you with that whole self view thing," then mumbled something incoherent under her breath. A light smile danced on Onyx's lips, "Alright Shapeshifter, I can deal with that."

All eyes were on the largest of the group now as her two sides inwardly debated and after a minute of silence she finally spoke up, "Onyx, we both hate each other and that is a fact," Steven was about to argue before the fusion put her finger to his lips, "However, if Steven wants to give you chance like he did with the Centipeetle then I'll allow it," "But?" the forced fusion asked knowing the circumstances, "But, you must stay at the temple and watch over Steven at night, _every_ night until we deem you trustworthy enough to go around at night." Pearl spoke up before Onyx could consider, "Garnet I know I just said that I would allow him to go free, but watch over Steven? I don't think I could trust him like that,"

"I do," a stern voice came not from Garnet but from the young boy himself. "Pearl, I trust Onyx, if he wanted to leave he would have left while we were getting donuts or after the Slinker incident." "What are you talking about?" the purple gem spoke up. "Was Wolfy Onyx the entire time?" Both the males blushed with the older hardening his gaze to a glare, "Yes, I was Shade during that time," "Why did you risk coming that close to us" Garnet inquired, "It was to show Steven my little fusion weapon trick," he said while bringing out the Scythe. "So _that's_ why I'm getting tired," Pearl exclaimed suddenly, "Sorry about that," he then broke the weapon severing the connection.

"But do you see what I mean?" the young boy spoke up once again, "He risked so much just to both help me and show me his cool tricks, I promise he won't try to run away at night OK?" "The Lovers would probably see me with their future vision and bubble me before I could get two steps out the door anyway," Onyx said forcing out the word "bubble" while the fusion in question merely nodded her head. "Oh, alright, but only if for the first week one of us watch with you," "I can live with that," the black gem confirmed.

A large yawn escaped the young boy, "I think it's way past someone's bedtime," Garnet then picked up the small gem and started for the house with the other gems on tow. As the five walked up the steps the old war general whispered over to the leader, "Thank you, I know we loathe each other, but I appreciate the chance," the stoic gem spoke after tucking the sleeping boy in, "Don't get me wrong, I'm only doing this because Steven asked, and you better not screw up your only chance, got it?" Both gems stared at each other for a time before the shorter of the two let out a sigh and gave a simple "OK".

"I'll take first watch," the pale gem spoke up as soon as everyone was in the living room, "No pearl, you're still tired from the fight, let Amethyst do it," Onyx could feel the desperation coming from Pearl, 'Why do you want to do this so much Spearmaiden?' he thought before speaking aloud, "If you want the first watch how about a half hour break before anything, I think I speak for everyone when I say we're all exhausted Lovers." The shortest gem nodded and headed directly towards what Onyx presumed was a technological ice box of sorts when food was pulled out.

Garnet took a seat on the couch while Pearl laid her head on the arm, Amethyst took a seat at one of the stools and finally Onyx sat on the rug and went into a meditative form to collect his thoughts. A silence filled the room, not awkward, but peaceful and understanding, twenty minutes passed before the pointy nosed gem spoke up once again, "You're quite good at reading a persons emotions Onyx," "Had to," he said opening his eyes, "Remember I was a general, I had to know how tired my troops were so I could judge what to do next whether it be to retreat or shift attack tactics." Pearl hummed in acknowledgement before quiet returned.

Once Amethyst finished her large sandwich she started for the temple entrance, "Alright, I'm off to sleep with my junk," before disappearing behind the door, "I'm going to go look for new missions, you know what to do Pearl," the leader said before entering the bubble room causing the grey skinned gem to shudder. The lanky gem got up from the couch and made her way up to Stevens room followed by the refreshed gem. "So why is it you wanted to take watch so badly?" he said startling the other gem, "W-well… it's a bit old," "I've seen humans, nothing you say will be old to me," he said sitting on the windowsill, "Um… it's because I wanted to watch Steven sleep," she said quickly to avoid any more embarrassment.

The experiment merely hummed and said, "So you're a bit protective, I've seen plenty of human mothers do this." he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Pearl just blinked and then watched Steven with a renewed sense of joy while Onyx watch the stars twinkle brightly against the black space above. 'Will this be the new norm for me?' he thought tightening his hand, 'It's true that I want to care for the kid, but what about Homeworld?' he let out a breath, 'Homeworld probably thinks that I'm shattered by now, heh, guess the jokes on them, but still… ' he gazed over to where Homeworld was in the massive cluster of stars, 'What now?'

 **Author's note: And that's a wrap for this chapter, I think I did OK on time this go around. The next few chapters will be more fluff than angry, (though there will still be some tears ahead) and as always tell me what I did right/wrong, all criticism is welcome as long as it's constructive and give me ideas you'd like me to write about, I'd love to hear them. You may also see a new story from me featuring Onyx in a new universe, (insert rimshot here) with a different name of course. Til next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I do not own Steven Universe**

Silence spanned through the house as the two war veteran gems sat, the paler of the two intently watching the young sleeping boy, the melancholy gem watching the stars and planets through the window internally debating his purpose. "Onyx," the gem in question snapped out of his stupor at the sound of his name called and turned to Pearl, who was currently sitting next to the bed. "Yes Spearmaiden?" he saw the twitch of her eye as he called her by his nickname, "I was wondering… If you were considered defective, why did you lead the army?" she said trying to spark conversation. Onyx gave a slight chuckle, "I was still better at battle than everyone." The slightly taller gem gave a hum in confusion leading him to continue, "Do you remember the old Diamond Arenas?" a quick nod followed, "During the war they were used to see if you were still useful to them," he said as the memories flew by his eyes as he thought of that fateful day.

* * *

 _A shackled black gem was dragged across the floor by several rubies struggling to keep the reinforced chains upon the creation. Now in the center of a clean and pristine Sky Arena, a massive yellow gem stood up from her equally massive throne, "Soldiers!" her voice echoed across the building, quieting all conversation even stopping the snarls of the bound gem. "Today we have come to see if this defective gem is of any use to our cause. Now he will fight against our toughest warrior, come Carnelian!"_

 _A large reddish orange gem walks out of the large door underneath the leaders seating area, she has wild hair with a failed attempt at a ponytail, her tight bodysuit revealing muscles threatening to rip any physical clothing, her hexagon shaped gem rested on her left bicep and a large sneer plagued her facial features. "I'm gonna have fun smashing you," the looming gem hissed as she pulled out her greatsword from the shiny gem. "Oh, get over yourself you wall of dirt! If you took a moment to get your head out of the stars then you would see how outmatched you are!" the unchained gem roared out._

 _The newly enraged gem bull-rushed towards the thin experiment, before being completely dodged by him sliding underneath slicing her thick shins with glistening claws. She then swung back around delivering a roundhouse kick to his head sending him soaring into the wall creating splintering the stone around him. As he groaned from the impact the assailant once again charged with a warcry, as the sword swung the injured gem ducked down allowing the weapon to become lodged within the marble. Seeing the opportunity Onyx shoved his claws deep into her chest, now with half of his forearm inside the beast she retaliated by grabbing his other arm pulling him out and then flinging him into the door of which she previously entered._

 _"You think that this will beat me?" the acting general gave a boisterous laugh, "Do you get it now!? You are nothing but a defect and nothing else!" She then gave a warcry different from the previous causing a few of the onlookers to become glassy-eyed and join her in battle. Onyx now on his knees spoke with few raspy breaths, "All I hear is bluster BullHead, I'm still not shattered and yet you still brag about nothing." he let out a hard laugh, "You're still an idiot." A newly dubbed "BullHead" once again charged now intending to use her bare hands to smash his gem._

 _As she neared a lopsided, crocodile grin spread across his face and his eyes shined, moments of silence followed as everyone observed what had happened in an instant. A serrated sword was jutting out of Carnelian's back with Onyx holding onto the handle, a malicious grin flaring and taking over his face. "This is what I was talking about when I was talking about your incompetence, you're supposed to learn about you opponent from waiting." The new assailant then pulled the sword upwards, cutting out of the right shoulder, "You get frustrated easily," a stab in the foot, "You prefer a quick fight," a slice in the legs, "You're partially blind in one eye," a poke in the right eye, "and most of all..." he rose the sword high, "You tried to fight an already lost battle."_

 _He swung down and silence rang out in the arena, everyone saw that his blade was stuck in the ground, mere inches from the still solid generals gem. The finished aggressor walked away towards Yellow Diamond to hear what she would say. Before one word could be uttered, Carnelian was behind him about to stab him in the back, her form then flickered as she saw the sword in her neck. "You're also stubborn," was the last thing the reddish-orange gem heard before retreating into her gem._

 _The victorious gem now held the gem aloft and yelled at the present diamond, "I beat your idiot champion, what now?!" The leader stood tall, her face unreadable, and spoke commandingly, "You, a defective gem, were able to overcome my undefeated head general. Now I ask that you become the new head, and, if you would kindly show us that little trick you did with your weapon, we may gain a stronger lead on those… Crystal Gems" she said as if the mere utterance of the name was a curse. "I will do one better my diamond, I will show you the full extent." As Onyx tightly gripped the fallen gem the shards around his neck shown brilliantly, then releasing a wraith-like scream all onlookers froze and then stood at attention fear dancing on their figures. The large gem allowed a wicked smile to spread as she saw this and gave the title to the controlling gem._

* * *

As the reminiscing gem recounted the experience, Pearl went through a variety of facial expressions from pity to excitement and vigor to unease. "You must have gotten a lot of praise," the pale gem said trying to lighten the subject. "Oh yeah, they held small parties and ceremonies, heck, at one time they to tried to give me my own p-" he interrupted himself with a cough, "Uh, eh, sorry." The rebel just waved it off, "I've made my dues with the subject, why did you refuse? Surely the higher ups got upset with you not taking them." "... well, it felt… immoral? I couldn't shake the feeling in the pit of my stomach when they offered. One week later they found out the grey pearl had run off to join the resistance." "That was her?" she asked in disbelief, "What?"

"There was a few other pearls that joined our resistance and a grey pearl was among them, her nickname was Listener," "So she gathered information?" he asked. "No, she listened to the problems of the gems that first came to our resistance, sometimes pointing them towards like minded gems," she explained a slight smile crossing her features.

More silence followed the two as they both remembered more and more about the wars days before a question came to mind for Onyx. "Why don't you hate me?" "Why would I hate you Onyx?" Pearl asked surprised by the sudden question. "Because I tried to kill you all during the war," he simply put. "I admit it's a bit hard to act so civilized with someone that I've hated for centuries, but I want to at least try for Steven" she said with a smile towards the still sleeping Steven. Onyx then thought, "This kid is quite interesting, being able to deflect a finger cannon and change the heart of homeworld gems." not realizing he said it aloud.

"The sun's coming up," he observed, the bright oranges and burning reds flowing through the window. "I should get to making Steven Breakfast then," she said standing up. "Would you like to help?" He stammered out, "S-sure, but be warned that cooking isn't a strong suit of mine."

After a large goodmorning from Steven and a stack of (slightly burnt) pancakes, Garnet decided that she and Amethyst needed to go do a mission and wanted Pearl to escort both Onyx and Steven where they wanted to go. And being the kind boy he is, Steven wanted to show Onyx around the town starting at one of his favorite hangout spots, the boardwalk. "I've gotta show you all the fun spots here, there's the Arcade, the Fry Shop, Fun land we can go to the Big Donut again."

Onyx chuckled at how many places was being being listed off while being led into the "Arcade", he was guessing this was a fairly new idea to the world, new to a ageless being anyway. "This is where people come to have fun, here, you might like this one," Steven said pulling the two gems over to one of the many colorful machines. "This is Alleys of Anger, Pearl put your hands here and Onyx yours go here." The boy started up the game and explained the controls really quick to them and started them on their way and both of them were... not too good at the game. Pearl was constantly questioning the logic of beating up others and how strong a human must be in order to break a brick wall and Onyx ignoring every word she said and opting to play around with different moves and new combos on long dead enemies rather than go for the objective.

"Would you kindly stop squawking and watch the screen?"

"Oh, says the one who keeps trying to repeat an accidental combo he preformed on a corpse."

"Oi, it may be useful to use on the boss on this level! Besides, it isn't like there's a time limit on each level."

Before the argument could go any further screams could be heard from outside and as they ran outside both saw a large corrupted gem outside. It looked like a house sized jellyfish floating in the air, it was partially translucent with a rainbow of colors dancing through it's flesh. The worst thing about the creature was not it's dozens of tentacles though, no, the worst thing was that inside of the beasts body was Steven. "Heh heh, hey guys" he waved embarrassed.

"Dang it! I should've been more focused on our surroundings," Onyx growled, "We can talk more about our shortcomings later, first we get rid of this monster." Pearl hastily said, "Right" Onyx quickly launched himself at the creature intending to rip right into it to get to Steven, however it was not to be as he was knocked to the side. He landed just in time to see Pearl shooting bolts of light from her spear, unfortunately the light just dissolved into the body. The corrupt gem became aggravated and swung it's appendages around wildly not letting them any chance to stop moving.

"Alright, so it's fast and it absorbs light shots, great." the darker gem huffed, "Any ideas Spearmaiden?" "A distraction comes to mind, are you up for it?" The paler gem said while skillfully dodging over a swing. "OK," was all that the grey gem said as he went wild slicing at tentacles to keep it's attention as Pearl went for it's flank, but she barely got close before she was knocked into the air. "WHOA" was all could be heard before she was plucked out of the air and an arm missing it's swing, "You good Spearmaiden?" he hurriedly asked placing her down.

"I am thankfully, that thing has gone unscratched for too long, but we can't even get close to it," moments after saying this the beast suddenly spun around looking into an unknown direction before flying off with Steven in tow, "Uhh... guys? Help? HELP!" "NO!" both veterans yelled before following the creature. The both of them gave chase until dawn came, both of them sneaking after the jelly monster and Steven, they learned that while it can see everywhere off it's skin, it was dumb and deaf so makeshift antlers were perfect disguises.

After night started and the stars shown it slowed down to a leisurely pace, "I think it's time to attack now," Pearl said shakily. "Not yet," replied Onyx trying to hide his heavy breathing, "Listen." Both quieted down to hear more creatures ahead, they both crept ahead to see the Jellyfish float into a clearing filled with a a couple dozen corrupt gems each one watching the one they were following with silence, ones with eyes were glaring at the sleeping boy inside the body. It quietly put the slumbering boy onto a wide tree stump and joined the others in rank. Seconds passed until a new corrupted gem approached the snoozing half-gem, it resembled an ape, only a large mace-like tail and crimson red fur would tip one off.

It carefully moved it's large hands and shook the boy to awaken him being successful in both that and riling the hidden gems. After seeing all the eyes upon him Stevens eyes filled with worry, gooseflesh riding up his arms and legs, "H-hi, do you all need something?" Intelligent eyes watched the shield-bearer until one set upon him, a parakeet creature the size of his leg flapped it's way over carrying something shiny in it's talons, upon a closer look it was a gem with fractures across it. Stevens worry rapidly dissolved into sorrow for them. He reached out for the stone and felt the weight in it. Mustering up all the courage he had in his small body he quickly slathered his hand in saliva and slapped the reddish gem in hand.

Moments passed until a bright light came from the stone, a womans figure grew from the light only for a split second before growing larger and beefier until settling on one form. It was large, easily towering over Garnet by a head, the body was humanoid with a toga covering it's body, but it's head, it's head was that of a bull making look like a minotaur. It's whole body was a reddish-brown with blacked horned protruding from it's head, the white cloth looking out of place. It realized that it was indeed fixed and standing in front of it's peers causing each one of the to crowd around the minotaur with sounds of elation and purrs of glee filling the otherwise quiet forest. Then the bull person stopped the celebration by walking toward Steven while he was witnessing the event unfold.

The gem sniffed around the half-human while the two hidden were frozen, trying to think of something to do in order to get the child out. Pearl whispered to Onyx with a hushed worry, "Is that..." "Yeah, it is," he answered solemnly. "What do we do then?" "We wait for the most opportune moment, one bad step could get all three of us crushed under all of the monsters," Pearl definitely didn't like it, but Onyx had a good point so they waited and watched. 'I told you you were stubborn BullHead, even after corruption you won't give up, and I wish that was good, but right now... you're in the way of our Steven' he thought while thinking of ways to get the upper hand as the dawn started.

 **Authors Note: Back at it again with my story, I'm hoping that a new schedule with help with updates along with a bit of controlled background noise. It feels good to be doing this and hopefully it will get better with time, like always, tell me what I did right/wrong, I love criticism and it helps me improve both writing wise and motivation wise. Til next time!**


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